Friday, February 26, 2010

Dear International Cinema,
I miss you.

International Cinema is something they've been doing at BYU for years, I've probably talked about it before but they play foreign films ever week during the fall and winter semesters, there's usually 3 movies each week to choose from. The best parts about International Cinema are that the movies are edited to BYU standards and that it's free.
I went sporadically during my time at BYU although one semester I went just about every week. It's very interesting to get a glimpse of different cultures through their movies, or maybe just to see how movies differ in different parts of the world. I've found that happy, conclusive endings are not something that always happens...I've also found that I prefer happy, conclusive endings. I saw movies at International Cinema that I never would have seen otherwise, either because I wouldn't have heard of them or wouldn't have wanted to watch some of the things they would contain unedited. I've seen movies from Japan, Italy, Germany, England, some volitial Middle Eastern country which I don't remember at present....
One semester they showed some American movies and the foriegn films that they'd been based off of.
If you're ever in Provo you should check out what's playing at International Cinema.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I really enjoy landscapes but for one reason or another they aren't aren't featuring much in my art work at present. I am a lover of natural beauty though and as I have probably mentioned previously, a big fan of mountains and sunsets. I've been working on taking more pictures lately and trying to make the pictures I take a higher quality. I've never had any training in photography and I don't intend to ever do photography professionally but I guess I've been inspired by a lot of people around me. A fair amount of my friends and relations are into photography and pursuing it professionally. I'm coming to realize that unsurprisingly there are some direct correlations between painting/drawing and photography. While it's very important to have working knowledge of design and composition in making a piece, you'll be able to make your work all the better for using quality materials. I had a hard time accepting this in school, as any poor college student might, but I finally broke down and bought myself some really good brushes and I'm here to tell you nothing you find at Michael's can compare to them, they were not cheap but they are quality products and the difference is very noticeable. Getting back to my point in looking at these pictures I took, they don't accurately portray the sky because of my camera. They could have been a lot better with a higher quality camera...and also if I'd had my camera with me when I first noticed the sky instead of several minutes later. Oh well.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Joy

I've been thinking about joy today. I'd like to do a piece about joy for a serise I'm working on, however I'm not really sure how to express joy through a painting. I was looking at various deffenitions of joy to see if that would help me out. I found a little more than I already knew; mostly joy is pure and scerene happiness. I guess I ought to look at art work and see if there's anything out there that could help me. I know I've heard joy expressed musically, and I've probably seen it visually as well, I'll just have to keep looking. I keep thinking of the scripture, 2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Reading List Update

So this is my original list. X on the list means it's read and / means I'm reading it now.

X Timaeus by Plato
The Royal Tombs of Egypt by Zahi Hawass
Red Land, Black Land by Barbara Mertz
X The Four Color Person by Max Luscher
X The Luscher Color Test by Max Luscher
X The False Gods We Worship by Spencer W. Kimball
My Life's Review by Benjamin Franklin Johnson
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Jesus the Christ by James Talmage
/ Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley
Grimms Fairytales by the brothers Grimm
Hamlet's Mill
/ Leonardo's Notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci
Introduction to water gilding

I'm adding some new items to the list now.

A Beginners Guide to Creating the Universe
Introduction of Color by Joseph Albers
The Alchemy of Light

Also I thought I'd share a piece of music that I really love, Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

More Thoughts

Today on the radio someone was talking about a piece of music inspired by the Roman circuses and shows near the fall of Rome. The colloseum and other such arenas were the home of blood sports, galatiator matches, etc. for the Roman's entertainment. It was pointed out on what I was listening too, that we too are a society devoted to entertainment and that violent shows and reality tv, perhaps our new form of blood sports, are the most popular shows on hundreds of channels. It worries me to think about what was implied in this.

Monday, February 15, 2010

thoughts

I've had some thoughts swirling around in my mind and some of them are running together and in and out of one another. A few years back in Washington D.C. a writer for the Washington Post performed an experiment, they had Joshua Bell, the world famous violinist, perform a concert in the metro station. Bell appeared to be just any other street performer. The experiment was to see if people would realize they were hearing Joshua Bell, if they would stop and listen, if they would throw money. You'll have to read the article for the full details but people did not realize that they were hearing a former prodigy playing extremely difficult pieces, and he only made about $32 dollars.
We live in a day and age of technology where information is at our finger tips, where
we are used to and even demand instant gratification. For all our advances and accomplishments we feel privileged and rank ourselves above past generations, but I find myself wondering: what good is it? If we cannot appreciate beauty, if we cannot even see it before us, what good does it do us? Now I will admit that had I been in the metro in D.C. for that experiment, I too would likely have hurried past and never known that I had heard a great.
It worries me though, we are all so busy, for what ends? Are we happier for our business? Have our lives perhaps become too convenient? When the sun sets do we notice the beauty or just that the sun is in our eyes?
Beauty is very important, there is no joy without beauty, there is no hope either.
I absolutely do not believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I firmly believe that the requirements of beauty are real and that they have been established for at least as long as there has been an earth
and quite likely before.
As an artist I strive for beauty, I am responsible to help the earth become a more beautiful place. I'm wandering now and loosing my train of thought, but I wanted to share these thoughts. They are very important to me. Make time for beauty, work for beauty. I don't know that anyone was ever sad for something truly beautiful.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentimes Day. I hope everyone out there feels loved. Note: while it's certianly nice to have romantic love, it's not the only love out there. My freshmen year my next door neighbor introduced us all to her celebration of Love Week, and it's stuck with me. I haven't really ever celebrated Love Week in the way that this girl did but I have come to love the idea of just celebrating love. We can all love and be loved, family, friends, roommates, significant others, etc. The famous Beatles song is quite true, "All you need is love" Life without love would be flat and sad. I hope you feel loved today and make others feel loved. Making this day a day of love and not of exclusion or depression starts with you and me. Spread the love. And remember, you are never unloved, there is always someone who loves you.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

20s

I have a love of the 20s which is at the forefront of my mind today. Some of my favorite movies are set in the 20s like Some Like It Hot and Throghly Modern Millie. I have a dream that one day instead of rehashing the 60s, 70s, and the 80s; that the 20s will come back in with flapper dresses, bobs, etc. The 20s was such a crazy time, war was over, prohibition was in effect and people just sort of let lose. I don't know that I really would have liked the 20s but I enjoy them in movies.


Monday, February 8, 2010

Project girl

I excited about this week, I'm pumped up and ready to go. I've got a lot of projects going to keep me busy. I've got two books to make, but with extra paper I might end up making several more, depending on how long my enthusiasm lasts after the initial two are done.
I'm also determined to finally sew the dress that I've been planning since May or June of last year. I had a dream of a dress, but it's not really the hot thing right now and so any store that would carry it would likely be out of my price range, so I found a pattern to make it. I found the pattern and the pattern had two dresses that I loved, the first dress got done in about a month, the second dress got started in November or December and then got put on hold. I've finally decided that it's got to get done because I've got other sewing projects that I'm thinking about and they can't happen until this dress is done. (They probably will take a while to happen even after the dress is done.)
I'll see about posting pictures of these projects once they're a bit closer to being done.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Oil Painting

Before my oil painting class in college, I'd never oil painted before, I'd only ever painted with acrylics and watercolors. My oil painting class was more of a crash course, it's a bit hard to really grasp something in a class that meets twice a week for a semster. I meant to take more oil painting classes and I even was in two but I dropped one for a schedual conflict and the teacher of the second class had such a different phillosophy from me that I decided that I needed to drop the class, it wouldn't have been a good use of my time.
Anyway I really enjoyed oil painting when it was introduced to me. I admire the brilliant colors that can be gained through using oils. I did a few oil paintings in college but I haven't done oils for at least one year, probably closer to two years. The main reason for my not doing oil more recently has bee laziness. My paint medium ran out, I didn't make more. I bought panels last year, thinking that I'd do some oil paintings for my final show, the panels haven't been touched since then, I didn't put rabbit skin glue on them, I didn't put the ground on them.
In the last few weeks I've decided that I really want to start oil painting again, there have been various inducements to do so: better color quality than I can get from watercolors, and also from the frustration of trying to frame works on paper for shows ( They need to be framed and under plexiglass as opposed to oils on panel or linen which don't always have to be framed and do not require glass.).
I've slowly been getting everything ready to start painting again and in this process I've decided that I really prefer working with panel because preparing stretcher bars and the linen. Anyway there's still a fair amount to do before I can paint. I still have one more canvas to prepare, I need to make my paint medium and put rabbit skin glue and ground or gesso on my supports.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

LaGrange Show!

I just found out that I got into the LaGrange National XXVI Beinnial Exhibition! Wow, I forgot how long the title was. I'm really excited and will feel much better about life when the framed piece (once it has a frame) is shipped off to Georgia.
Here's the piece that got in.


Day 14

This is the last day of the two week read. It's really been an enjoyable experience for me. I hope you enjoyed it too.

Day 14
How do I personalize the atonement to my weaknesses, trails and sins?

D&C 6:35-37

Either 12:27
Alma 37:37
Alma 34:26-27

*How does the Atonement turn my weaknesses into strengths?

Additional Resources For Further Study:
Bible Dictionary: Atonement
Hymns: atonement, resurrection, sacrament, esp. Hymn 185
Preach My Gospel

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Day 13

Day 13
Can I be forgiven of my sins?

Isaiah 1:18-19
Mosiah 4:7-10
D&C 6:23

*What is excluded in the word infinite atonement (f?)or all mankind? Or perhaps who? Sheri Dew quote from life test talk.

Also I wanted to share this piece of music because I love it. Clair De Lune by Debussy

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Something I miss from being in school is seeing sunsets. I quite often found myself walking home from campus in the late afternoon early evening and so I often got to enjoy beautiful sunsets over the mountains. I don't walk home any more and I quite often forget to take the time to watch the sun set. There are a lot of really ugly things in this world but there are still plenty of amazingly beautiful things. While I usually miss the sunsets I have started to notice sunrises more, before I wasn't up early enough, or stuck in a place without window but now I quite often catch beautiful sunrises. I still prefer sunsets though.

Day 12

Day 12
What does Jesus Christ teach me about the divine worth of every soul?

3 Nephi 11:15-16
Helaman 14:15-17

*What will you do with your personal witness of Jesus Christ today?

"It is possible to reclaim a life that through reckless abandon has become so strewn with garbage that it appears that the person is unforgivable Or what about the one who is making an honest effort but has fallen back into sin so many times that he feels that there is no possible way to break the seemingly endless pattern? Or what about the person who has changed his life but just cant forgive himself?...

"The Atonement of Jesus Christ is available to each of us. His Atonement is infinite. It applies to everyone, even you. It can clean, reclaim, and sanctify even you. That is what infinite means-total, complete, all, forever."

(Shayne M. Bowen, "The Atonement Can Clean, Reclaim, and Sanctify Our Lives," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 33-3)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Day 11

Day 11
What else does the atonement apply to besides sin and trials?

Isaiah 49:13-16
1 Cor. 15:22
Hebrew 2:18

*Who can I forgive today with the Lord's help?

The Atonement not only benefits the sinner but also benefits those sinned against - that is, the victims. By forgiving "those who trespass against us" (JST, Matt. 6:13) the Atonement brings a measure of peace and comfort to those who have been innocently victimized by the sins of others. The basic source for the healing of the soul is the Atonement of Jesus Christ....

A sister who had been through a painful divorce wrote of her experience in drawing from the Atonement. She said: "Our divorce ... did not release me from the obligation to forgive. I truly wanted to do it, but it was as if I had been commanded to do something of which I was simply incapable." Her bishop gave her some sound advice: "Keep a placed in your heart for forgiveness, and when it comes, welcome it in." Many months passed as this struggle to forgive continued. She recalled: "During those long, prayerful moments ... I tapped into a live-giving source of comfort from my loving Heavenly Father. I sense that he was not standing by glaring at me for not having accomplished forgiveness yet; rather he was sorrowing with me as I wept. ...

"In the final analysis, what happened in my heart is for me and amazing and miraculous evidence of the Atonement of Christ. I had always viewed the Atonement as a means of making repentance work for the sinner. I had not realized that it also makes it possible for the one sinned against to receive into his or her heart the sweet peace of forgiving."

James E. Faust, "The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope," Liahona, Jan 2002, 19-22